Fab-u-lous - Forest at the Cavern Club (and Five Live came too)

I’m about to drive to Liverpool (via Chester) for the Labour Party conference.

I’m going merely as an observer, to see what’s occurring, and to get some feedback from delegates on the Government’s plan to ban smoking in beer gardens and other outdoor spaces.

I’ve attended Labour conferences since then but the last time Forest organised an event at a Labour conference was in 2011 when we co-hosted a fringe event at the famous Cavern Club.

To be strictly accurate, the current Cavern Club is actually a replica of the club where The Beatles performed in the early Sixties, but it’s on the same site so it’s as close as you can get to the original which was demolished, I think, in the Eighties.

Thirteen years ago we were still promoting the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign whose goal was an amendment to the smoking ban that would have allowed separate smoking rooms in pubs and clubs.

We knew it was a long shot, but our other aim was to stop the smoking ban being extended to outdoor areas such as pub doorways and beer gardens, which Labour had threatened to do before the 2010 election.

The Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign was supported by the Clubs and Institute Union which represents working men’s clubs, so I suggested that the CIU co-host the conference event because it would attract more delegates than an event hosted exclusively by Forest.

I was nervous however because the Cavern Club is a 15-minute walk from the conference centre and hotels where many delegates were staying, and if the weather was bad (like today!) it would have deterred people from coming.

Thankfully that didn’t happen and it ending up being one of the most successful and enjoyable events we have ever organised. I wrote about it here but it’s worth republishing in full (see below).

Above: former publican Nick Hogan addresses guests at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in September 2011

How fab was that?

A trickle of guests became a flood as over 200 people attended last night's Save Our Pubs & Clubs event at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

Five Live Breakfast presenter Nicky Campbell was there too, interviewing guests for this morning's programme. (Did anyone hear it? I was too busy having breakfast!)

The event began with a 50-minute DVD of Paul McCartney playing at the Cavern Club in 1999. It was projected on to the large video wall at the back of the stage. The volume was low enough to allow people to talk but it established the perfect atmosphere.

Then it was time for the speeches. I escorted our speakers backstage and we walked on stage from the wings.

First, I introduced Nick Hogan, well known to readers of this blog. Nick said a few words before I introduced John Tobin, vice president of the Clubs & Institute Union, who said a few more. Both speakers caught the mood of the audience and their (short) speeches were received with cheers and applause.

Highlight of the evening was the Beatles tribute band who played for 60 minutes and were great value for money. Made In Liverpool were genuinely very, very good and the bass player was the spitting image of McCartney. (Unfortunately the illusion was lost when I visited the band in their dressing room and saw them without their wigs!)

Anyway, they got a great reception, including a standing ovation at the end. Songs included 'A Hard Day's Night', 'I Feel Fine', 'Girl', 'Eight Days A Week', 'Twist and Shout' and many more.

Three months ago Dave Jones, owner of the Cavern Club, assured me that an event like this would be a great success. I was keen to do it but with our record at Labour conference I wasn't convinced we would attract a large crowd.

I needn't have worried. Dave was right. We had a capacity audience who not only enjoyed themselves enormously but went home with a serious message (and some great music) ringing in their ears.

PS. Guests included Michael Dugher MP, PPS to the Leader of the Opposition who stayed to the end and told me, on his way out, "That was the best event at the Labour conference".

As I say, it was also the last event we have organised at the Labour conference. I’m not sure how we can better it, but next year, perhaps …

Below: Five Live presenter Nicky Campbell interviews a guest at our Cavern Club event in September 2011. Funnily enough, I remember the exact moment a Five Live producer rang me to register interest in covering the event. It was several weeks earlier and I was in Oxford, walking from a car park, where I had parked my car, to one of the colleges. It had been a risk to organise the event but that call seemed to validate it.

Comments

[Cambridge (US) Citizens for Smokers' Rights]

Thank you for bringing up the smoking issue at events like this. Victory rarely comes without perseverance. You embody that quality!